Fergie's Tech Blog

First Generation HD Optical Disc Players Prohibit Copying

I'm so sick of the whole HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray battle, and now this. I say: Boycott both of them -- only the consumer loses in this whole ridiculous mess.

Evan Blass writes over on Engadget:

More bad news for consumers: PC World is reporting that the first generation of high definition optical disc players will not allow content to be copied or streamed to other discs or devices thanks to their implementation of the AACS interim standard- with the "interim" part meaning that it lacks provisions for managed copy.

So even though the content that you buy for your brand-new Toshiba HD-A1/HD-XA1 HD-DVD or Pioneer Elite BDP-HD1/Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player (or players, if you're really hardcore) will work on future-gen machines, and media with the finalized AACS protection will likewise be backwards compatible with your device, early-adopters will be unable to do much more than enjoy all that HD goodness on stationary displays until both a hardware and software hack are in place, it would seem.

More here.

posted by Fergie @ 3/21/2006 06:22:00 PM